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My childhood dreams were really megalomania fed by television and movies, so the early teenager would probably be really disappointed with how things turned out. I was sadly one of those kids whose friends, family and teachers kept telling "you'll be famous someday!" That had a really bad effect in the long run and created standards that I couldn't live up to. It took quite a while to finally root out the fantasy and start forming realistic goals and expectations about life. Thankfully in the process I fell into a career (or two) that have kept me swimming well above the tide. I'm now mostly past that nonsense...

I had no idea what to expect of adulthood as a kid. I spent my childhood feeling like I understood very little, and then my teenage years feeling lost about where the hell I was going, in a panicky way. My life got pretty derailed by trauma and crisis, and I'm only just starting to get a feel for how things are going to go in the long-term.

I think part of the reason I want to be a teacher is because I want the chance to act as a mentor. I think I'd have benefited a lot from someone realistically laying out my options as a kid, or as a teenager, or even as a college-entrant age young adult, and giving me a stronger idea of what life can offer and some tools for figuring it out. I'm pretty sure a lot of young people could be helped this way, and the system as a whole doesn't offer them anything.